Most Successful Crypto Traders To Follow

Share this:
Editorial Note: While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for How We Make Money. None of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer.

Binance - Best Crypto Exchange for 2024

Your capital is at risk.

Most successful crypto traders are:

  • Changpeng Zhao — founder and former CEO of the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance

  • Brian Armstrong — co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase

  • Barry Silbert — creator of Digital Currency Group, which invests in various projects and startups related to cryptocurrencies

  • Chris Larsen — co-founder of Ripple

  • Fred Ehrsam — co-founder of the Coinbase exchange and cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm

The world of digital assets beckons many and it's no surprise, as the crypto market, despite all its ups and downs, is clearly not lacking in money. According to CoinGecko's annual report, the volume of cryptocurrency trading in 2023 reached $40,2 trillion, with daily volume exceeding $113 billion (as of 10-04-24). Impressive, isn't it?

For beginners, it's important to breathe in and be motivated by other people's successes. So in this article, we'll tell you the stories of people who not only reached significant financial heights, but also had a huge impact on the development and evolution of the cryptocurrency space.

  • What skills do you need to become a successful crypto trader?

    A cryptocurrency trader who wants to succeed must be able to manage risk, understand technical and fundamental analysis, control emotions, keep abreast of the latest news, developments and trends in cryptocurrencies, have the ability to make quick and clear decisions, as well as continuous learning.

  • What strategies do successful crypto traders use?

    The top five effective cryptocurrency trading methods include arbitrage, long-term holding, swing trading, day trading, and scalping.

  • How do successful crypto traders manage risk in the volatile market?

    Successful traders manage risk by using rationally sized positions, placing stop-loss orders, diversifying their portfolio, and constantly updating strategies to meet changing market conditions.

  • What can you learn from famous crypto traders?

    By reading the stories of famous crypto traders, you can learn various trading strategies, discover risk management techniques, gain insight into how to maintain emotional control and discipline, and learn how to analyze market trends, charts, etc. to make informed decisions.

Most successful crypto traders and their stories

Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao (@cz_binance), better known as CZ, is a Chinese-Canadian cryptocurrency entrepreneur and founder of the Binance exchange. The future billionaire was born in China, but his family emigrated to Vancouver in the 80s. CZ received his education at McGill University in Montreal.

Zhao started his career in the financial industry with Bloomberg Tradebook in 2005, where he was a software developer. He later worked at Fusion Systems and Blockchain.info. In 2013, Zhao joined OKCoin after working in the team for more than 8 months. In the same year, CZ founded OKCoin, which was engaged in the development and technical support of software in the field of financial technologies.

On July 14, 2017, Zhao, along with Bijie Tech's descendants, decided to creat a Bitcoin exchange, which was named Binance. Binance is now the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, and Changpeng Zhao's fortune, according to 2024 data, is $33 billion dollars, making him the 50th richest person on the planet.

The last piece of advice the Binance CEO gave to investors was, "If you're stressed out every time you fall, you probably shouldn't trade much, or at least you should change your trading strategy. Maybe just keep it on hold?".

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) is an American entrepreneur known as the co-founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. Throughout the period of his work, Brian has received various nicknames. For example, he is called the "White Knight" for his attempts to achieve normal regulation of the crypto market.

Brian Armstrong was born on January 25, 1983 in San Jose and studied at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics and computer science. While still in college, Brian was an intern at IBM for 4 months and also worked at Deloitte and Touche as a risk management consultant. Together with his dorm roommate, Brian created University Tutor, a tutor search aggregator.

Brian became interested in digital assets in 2010 after he first read Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin WhitePaper. At that time, he even tried to create a wallet project that would allow him to safely store and buy cryptocurrency, but due to his busy schedule (he was working at Airbnb and developing his own University Tutor project in parallel), he never managed to bring it to its logical conclusion.

But failure did not stop Armstrong and in 2012, together with Fred Ehrsam, he founded Coinbase. As of November 2023, the Coinbase platform was valued at $80 billion. Forbes estimates Brian's personal fortune at $2.4 billion.

Barry Silbert

Barry Silbert

Barry Silbert

Barry Silbert is an American entrepreneur, investor and creator of Digital Currency Group.

Barry Silbert was born in 1976 in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance and information technology from Emory University. Barry began his career in the financial industry working for Houlihan Lokey, a large multinational bank. In 2004, he founded his own company Restricted Stock Partners, specializing in the development of financial platform technologies. After expansion, the project was given a new name - SecondMarket, and after only two years of work it brought Silbert 2 million dollars.

2013 was marked for him by the creation of the Bitcoin Investment Trust, a private trust, and 2015 was marked by the launch of Digital Currency Group, which is one of the leading companies in the field of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. It is engaged in investing in various projects and startups related to digital assets. For example, DCG has invested in companies such as BitGo, BitPay, BitPagos, Circle, Coinbase, Kraken and others.

As of April 2022, Forbes estimates Barry Silbert's personal fortune at 3.2 billion dollars.

Chris Larsen

Chris Larsen

Chris Larsen

Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) is an American entrepreneur and angel investor who is primarily known for co-founding Ripple.

Chris Larsen attended San Francisco State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Accounting in 1984. Larsen's first official job was with Chevron, a major American energy company. But already in 1997, he and Janina Pawlowski founded the E-Loan service, which is considered a pioneer in the online lending industry.

The next step in Larsen's career was the creation of an online platform for peer-to-peer lending - Prosper Marketplace. The way the platform works is that borrowers can apply for a loan through Prosper's website, specifying the amount requested and the purpose of the loan. Private investors can then select borrowers' applications for funding based on various criteria such as credit rating, payment history, etc.

In 2012, Larsen left his position as CEO of Prosper Marketplace to join the team at OpenCoin, which later changed its name to Ripple Labs.

Ripple Labs developed blockchain technology that enables banks and financial institutions to conduct instant and low-cost international transactions using the XRP cryptocurrency.

Chris Larsen's personal wealth was $2.9 billion in 2023.

Fred Ehrsam

Fred Ehrsam

Fred Ehrsam

Fred Ehrsam (@FEhrsam) is a well-known and highly controversial figure in the world of cryptocurrency. Together with Brian Armstrong, he was one of the founders of the largest cryptocurrency platform Coinbase.

Fred graduated from private Duke University in North Carolina in 2010, after which he worked as a currency broker at Goldman Sachs in New York. It was during his time at Goldman Sachs that Ersam began to gradually familiarize himself with digital assets, trading BTC in his spare time. And in 2012, there was a fateful acquaintance between Ersam and Armstrong, as a result of which they decided to creat the Coinbase exchange. In 2017, Fred Ersam left active management at Coinbase to engage in investment activities and support new projects in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Later, together with Matt Huang, Ehrsam launched the cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm, which in its first year made 28 investments in digital asset-related businesses.

Fred Ehrsam's personal fortune is nearly $3 billion dollars (based on 2023 data).

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss

Cameron (@cameron) and Tyler (@tyler) Winklevoss are twins, American rowers, entrepreneurs and Mark Zuckerberg's nemesis. They are best known for their involvement in the creation of the social network ConnectU, which later became known as Facebook. Their story served as the basis for the book and movie The Social Network.

Bitcoin, however, provided them with their true wealth. In 2013, the twins invested about $11 million in "digital gold", and in 2017 became the world's first publicly known bitcoin billionaires. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are also the owners of Nifty Gateway, an online auction platform for trading NFT art.

Mike Novogratz

Mike Novogratz

Mike Novogratz

Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) is a well-known American investor, public figure and former hedge fund manager. Mike was born in 1964 into a large family with many children. He began his career in the financial industry at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for 11 years. In 2002, he joined Fortress Investments. In 2007, the company held an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Fortress became the first major hedge fund in U.S. history to issue its shares to the public. In the same year, Novogratz made it to the Forbes list of billionaires for the first time, taking 317th place on the rating. However, Mike lost his status back during the 2008 crisis.

In 2015, Mike founded Galaxy Investment Partners, which focused on crypto investments in Bitcoin and Etherium. Between 2016 and 2017, Mike made over $250 million dollars in the crypto markets. In 2022, Galaxy Investment Partners recorded large losses of $500 million due to the collapse of Terra and FTX, which cost Novogratz not only financial but also reputational losses.

Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) is a Canadian-Russian programmer who is best known as the co-founder of the Ethereum project. Vitalik was born in 1994 and grew up in Canada, where he emigrated with his parents at the age of 6. Back in 2011, Buterin became interested in Bitcoin and in the same year became a co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine.

In 2014, Buterin dropped out of university in order to fully devote himself to working on Ethereum. The network commenced its official operation on July 30, 2015.

In 2017, Vitalik made Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 list, and in 2021 he became the youngest cryptocurrency billionaire in the world. American Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.3 billion. According to the latest data, due to the collapse of the cryptocurrency market, Buterin lost his billionaire status, as his personal capital dropped to about $850 million.

Micree Zhan

Micree Zhan

Micree Zhan

Micree Zhan (@MicreeZ), also known as Zhan Kun Ketuan, is a Chinese entrepreneur and engineer who played a key role in the creation of the world's largest Bitcoin mining hardware company, Bitmain.

In 2013, Micree Zhan co-founded Bitmain Technology with Jihan Wu, which quickly grew into one of the leading manufacturers of ASIC chips and cryptocurrency mining equipment. However, in 2019, there was a conflict between Jihan and Wu, which resulted in Micree being fired from all his positions and becoming a persona non grata at Bitmain. Micree later regained his rights as a founder through the courts and regained control of the shares. But it cost him $600 million.

Nikil Viswanathan

Nikil Viswanathan

Nikil Viswanathan

Nikil Viswanathan (@nikil) is a prominent American entrepreneur and social activist. In 2011, while studying at Stanford, he met Joseph Lau and since then they have launched a dozen successful projects. Their first joint development was Down to Lunch, a social app college students used to communicate. After the success of the software, Nikhil and Joseph founded Alchemy, a platform for blockchain developers, which raised $200 million in February 2022 at a valuation of $10.2 billion.

For his achievements, Viswanathan was named one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 award winners in January 2017.

Best crypto exchanges

1
9.4/10
Go to broker
Your capital is at risk.
Minimum deposit:
$1
2
9.2/10
Go to broker
Your capital is at risk.
Minimum deposit:
₮1

What can I learn from professional crypto traders?

There are many lessons to be learned from the experience of professional crypto traders. By studying other people's success stories, you will learn how to: analyze the market, manage risks, control emotions, adhere to strict discipline, use time effectively, and pay special attention to self-development and continuous learning. You will also get a dose of motivation and realize that nothing is impossible for someone who really wants it.

How to become a successful crypto trader

There is no single formula for success, but there are a few important rules that will help you succeed:

  • Learn the basics of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

  • Study the market, conduct research on the cryptocurrency market, study charts, analyze trends and understand the factors affecting asset prices.

  • Develop your trading strategy. Determine your financial goals, risk profile and choose a suitable strategy that will save you a lot of unnecessary doubts and pondering and minimize the probability of failure.

  • Be disciplined and avoid emotional decisions.

  • Analyze your mistakes and learn from them.

  • Always be aware of the latest events and news in the world of cryptocurrencies.

  • Manage your risks. Do not put up more than you're able to forfeit.

  • Don't expect quick profits.

  • Communicate with other traders and learn from their experience.

Expert Opinion

Researching and analyzing the experience of successful crypto traders allows us to understand the key aspects of successful trading in this dynamic field. Their stories show how important it is not only to deeply analyze the market and navigate the fundamental factors affecting the prices of digital assets, but also to be able to manage risks and avoid emotions and fears when making decisions.

Successful cryptocurrency traders have a high degree of discipline and patience, quickly adapt to changing market conditions and learn from their mistakes, constantly improving their skills and keeping up with the latest innovations in the industry. It is the combination of these aspects that helps them achieve consistently high results and remain leaders in the world of cryptocurrencies.

By reading their biographies, you will be inspired, motivated, discover new strategies, set ambitious goals and find ways to achieve them.

Igor Krasulya

Igor Krasulya

Author at Traders Union

Conclusion

Vitalik Buterin, Brian Armstrong, Changpeng Zhao - these names are known to everyone who is interested in the world of digital assets. Their success is direct proof that the crypto market will be conquered only by those who are ready to take risks, constantly learn, accept challenges, endure failures and make quick decisions. We hope that this material was useful and inspired you to new achievements.

Team that worked on the article

Jason Law
Contributor

Jason Law is a freelance writer and journalist and a Traders Union website contributor. While his main areas of expertise are currently finance and investing, he’s also a generalist writer covering news, current events, and travel.

Jason’s experience includes being an editor for South24 News and writing for the Vietnam Times newspaper. He is also an avid investor and an active stock and cryptocurrency trader with several years of experience.

Dr. BJ Johnson
Dr. BJ Johnson
Developmental English Editor

Dr. BJ Johnson is a PhD in English Language and an editor with over 15 years of experience. He earned his degree in English Language in the U.S and the UK. In 2020, Dr. Johnson joined the Traders Union team. Since then, he has created over 100 exclusive articles and edited over 300 articles of other authors.

Mirjan Hipolito
Cryptocurrency and stock expert

Mirjan Hipolito is a journalist and news editor at Traders Union. She is an expert crypto writer with five years of experience in the financial markets. Her specialties are daily market news, price predictions, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).